Happy Birthday Huskies

CAMPUS VISIT: Saturday morning presented a bright blue sky, which meant no way could we stay inside. There were so many choices of places to go and things to do, it was hard to pick just one, but we settled on Husky Fest at the University of Washington. We figured it would HAVE to be a pretty big whoop-ti-do, because how often does the UW turn 150 years old?

Right off the bat, we met Harry the Husky. I must say, that is one fine looking costume, even up close.

Harry was at the kids' activity tent. There, CJ and Annabelle crafted very festive headbands which they wore all day as we toured the campus.

With bright blue skies and the cherry blossoms in full bloom, the campus was visually stunning during our visit.

Though it doesn't show in these photos, Mt. Rainier looked majestic rising to the south of Drumheller Fountain.

One thing that DOES show up though is the crane that's part of Husky Stadium renovations.

 

The College of the Environment had a bunch of neat displays, some inside Johnson Hall, others outside in a courtyard. At an astronomy table, we picked up all sorts of NASA swag (DVDs, posters and such). Sweet!

At a booth with a demonstration of the typical rainfall distribution patterns in the state, CJ and Annabelle were invited by *the* chief climatologist of the state of Washington to participate in an experiment. By doing to, they learned which spots in the Evergreen state get the most annual rainfall.

The climatologist told us about CoCoRaHS, which is the acronym for The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. We'll definitely be setting up a rain gauge in our yard and contributing our data for science.

One science professor had a neat-o display - it was a couple dozen mirrors mounted to a wood plane which was tilted just so to catch the sunlight. The rays then bounced off the mirrors and burned up items on a mid-air barbecue grill. Nothing like the smell of a melting GI Joe. :)

Just north of the Mary Gates building, we came across some sidewalk chalk artwork. It explored themes of evolving communications and computation. We took this photo featuring an abacus, calculator and personal computer, for Grandpa R, a UW math major.

Inside the Mary Gates building, there's a gorgeous view of the study area from the first floor landing.

In the building, we toured the (very small) Living Computer Museum Exhibition. It wasn't big, but the kids got to see a couple of vintage computers, including this Digital Equipment Corporation microcomputer: the PDP-8/e. They also got to use a big ol' teletype. They thought that was pretty cool.

Just before 1 p.m., we headed over to the Physics and Astronomy building, hoping to catch a planetarium show. It was a great opportunity, because normally the planetarium is only open to school groups, by reservation only. Happily, we got in on the show, and what a show it was! The universe in hi-def! 

After the program, CJ rushed over to the presenter to ask him about the hardware and software used to run the show. Imagine our surprise when the man told us that we could access it with our PCs at home. It's a Microsoft Research product called WorldWide Telescope, and I'd encourage you to check out the Web site!  

Our last stop on our campus tour was breathtaking Suzzallo Library. Named for a former UW president, the oldest part of the library was build in 1926.  It had been expanded several times over the years and the structure is stunning before you even set foot inside.

Once inside, the grand staircase is a sight to behold.

I wanted to see the storied Graduate Reading Room on the third floor of the library's western front. Its dimensions are 250 by 52-feet, with 65-foot high ceilings and every inch of it is impressive. Oak bookcases are topped with hand-carved friezes of native plants. The timber-vaulted ceiling is stenciled and soaring leaded windows have stained glass panels  reproducing Renaissance watermarks (per Wikipedia).

There is a hanging glass globe at each end of the room. The globes have the name of European explorers painted on them.

Annabelle grabbed a book off the shelf about Pacific Northwest fish and started browsing.

All in all, it was a wonderful outing; we saw so many gorgeous spots and learned lots, to boot!

MY LITTLE BRONY: This weekend CJ declared his desire to go to Toys R Us to spend some birthday cash. Unfortunately, there's no longer a Toys R Us within 10 miles of us - the closest one is Bellevue. Given that, we decided to make an Outing out of the trip. Christian found a park not too far from the Toys R Us - Bellevue Downtown Park. It's a 20-acre oasis featuring grassy expanses.

There was also a 240-foot wide waterfall that drains into a reflecting pool.  Pretty!

I'm happy to report, CJ was able to find the toy of his dreams at Toys R Us. He was initially super embarrassed to tell us what he was after, but finally broke down and blurted out, "I'm a brony!" I had NO idea what that meant, so he had to explain. Apparently a brony is a boy who likes My Little Pony. LOL.

Meet Princess Celestia ...

STRAWBERRY: Since it was so nice out, we spent some time in the yard today. The kids blew billions of bubbles ...

and Kirby enjoyed some sun.

We went on a two-park walk this afternoon. Unfortunately, the fun was cut short when CJ had a little scooter wipe out and he wound up landing mostly on his face. :/